Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Teen Annex Adventure

In true teen fashion, I left my visit to the teen section of the library to the last possible minute of the day. At 8:40, which is 20 minutes to close, I entered the teen section of the Jalna Branch Library, which is a branch that I don’t usually go to. When I walked into the library, there were a number of signs directing patrons. One pointed to the children’s section, another to audio and video, and one more to adults. There was no directional sign for the teen annex, but it turned out to be not far ahead of me.

The teen section had a “Teen Annex” sign hanging from the ceiling, and some pretty cool modular furniture; a red and purple table, and some kind of funky shelving units on which were displayed popular and new teen titles. Another display unit showcased interesting graphic novels. The teen collection itself spanned 4 or 5 bookshelves, and seemed to contain a wide array of genres, from “chick lit” to sci fi to a large collection of mangas. A bulletin board next to the collection advertised all sorts of teen programming, from teen book clubs to homework help to LPL’s L.O.U.D. concert series.

The collections on display made me somewhat more aware of how unfamiliar with YA materials I really am: I recognized a few graphic novels, such as Craig Thompson's Blankets, and some of the book titles seemed vaguely familiar from the blogosphere, but there is seemingly a world of publication unto itself that I have never really involved myself in.

What I found particularly notable about my trip to the teen section, since I didn't really have the vocabulary to assess the quality of the collection, was how the space was being used by teens, even when the library was closing in 20 minutes. There were two teens in a study room adjacent to the teen annex, though they didn’t seem to be studying so much as socializing with one of teen pages on staff – who pretended to arrange books while the three had a boisterous conversation. Just in front of the teen annex was a bay of homework computers, where two teens or pre-teens were getting help from a woman who appeared to be a homework tutor.

It was quite interesting to see this much activity at 8:40 pm. I was really pleasantly surprised to see what a vivacious and dynamic space Jalna’s teen section is, and that it is genuinely being used by teens in the ways that they see fit.

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